Problems for non-Nvidia users?

[Chad Baker]

Premiere Elements 8 users,

If you're experiencing frequent crashes or freezes in Premiere Elements 8, and you're NOT using an Nvidia graphics card, then we need to know about it. Please post a reply to this thread specifically if you do not have an Nvidia card. We are trying to gauge whether there are other crash issues in PRE8 that are not related to the driver issues mentioned in the announcement at the top of the forum.

Best regards,

Chad

[JJ Stag]

Windows 7 is 64 bit and I saved the movie to my hard drive. The movie does play in windows media player, media show, and power cinema.

John

[the_wine_snob]

OK, you have a movie. What is the format/CODEC? G-Spot will tell you, if you don not recall the exact specs. of your Export/Share. When you try to get it back into PrE, are you Importing it with Get Media?

Good luck,

Hunt

[the_wine_snob]

Also, remember that playing an AV file is vastly different than editing that same file.

Good luck,

Hunt

[nealeh]

OK, that's good news that the movie plays. Now, when you say you cannot open the movie in PR8, do you mean that you are trying to open the:

1. completed movie in PRE8 (from your burn folder) or
2. PRE project for further editing?

Cheers,
--
Neale
Insanity is hereditary, you get it from your children

[JJ Stag]

From completed movie in PRE8 (from your burn folder)

John

[nealeh]

I think we are close now . PRE (any version) is an editing tool rather than a movie player. The rough sequence of steps in using PRE is:

1. Open a new project.
2. Gather and Import media to the project.
3. Add the media to the PRE time/scene line.
4. Edit the media (cuts, transitions, effects and so on).
5. Create a disk menu if required.
6. Share (e.g movie, file, DVD).

You will have gone through all these steps (albeit unknowingly as instant movie will have completed 4 & 5 automatically) and have ended up with a playable movie ta-ra!!!!! This is a result that many troubled posters to these forums would kill for.

Having created a DVD in a burn folder, the files in that folder are now 'media' (step 2 above). So, to get PRE to do anything with them, you need a project (step 1) so that you can add the files (step 2) and put them on the time/scene line (step 3).

Hopefully that give you the answer to your question.

BUT ......................... You shouldn't be doing that.

Typically the source media will come from a camcorder and/or files on your PC. Those files will (if using PRE's ideal format) use about 13GB per hour - so 26GB for a two hour movie. This obviously will not fit even a dual layer DVD (8.5GB) so, when the movie is shared (item 6), PRE compresses the data as best it can to fit your DVD (either 4.7GB or 8.5GB).

If you now import that file to a new project it will be compressed and at a lower quality than the original footage. If you want to reuse that footage you will get much better results through using the original media again. So, once you have a satisfactory output (your instant movie) you should think of that as the end of that project.

Now, having tested the movie from the hard disk, you want to burn it to a DVD for use on a DVD player you have two main choices:

1. Open the original project (not movie) in PRE and, under share, select Disk. PRE will  then do it's thing and burn a disk for you.
2. Having created the project in a folder use something like imgburn, nero, or roxio to burn that folder to disk. When doing so ensure your burning software is set to burn a DVD disk (not a data disk).

In my case I always use a third party product to burn my disks (usually nero).

I hope this helps,

Cheers,
--
Neale
Insanity is hereditary, you get it from your children

[the_wine_snob]

John,

Just to make sure that we are on the same page here, what you are saying is that you have a Project, and have added the Instant Movie Effect. All plays fine in the Timeline, and then you have Saved the Project and also Shared the Movie in some format with some CODEC. Is that correct?

Later, you then go to Open that Project (the .PREL file), and now nothing comes in with it - no Assets, nothing, and you get no error/warning messages. Is that correct? You are not trying to Open your Exported/Shared movie file, are you?

I'm just trying to make sure that I am following along properly, to help with your problem.

Thanks for getting me onto the correct page,

Hunt

[JJ Stag]

Bill see answers below.

John

[Bacred89]

I am having freeze /crash probs when on Elements.I have radeon graphics card quad core processor.

It just freezes for no reason and not always when carrying out same operation.

[Steve Grisetti]

Just a reminder to anyone posting that this thread is NOT a place to post if you have a question or are looking for help.

This thread was started by an Adobe tech who is researching issues with version 8 of the program.

If you are looking for user-to-user advice, I recommend you start your own new thread, and someone will likely respond to you soon.

Posts to this thread are for research and reference only. Neither Adobe nor other users will respond directly to you.

[Vacitus]

Just posted this in the discussion forum.

http://forums.adobe.com/thread/570262?tstart=0

Thanks,

Greg

[cdroessler]

Many problems Chad.  I have an older (4 years) dell xps 400,  with a radeon driver.  Everything meets the specs though.  Tried pretty much everything suggested and more, but it still crashes often, and I have to save my project often.  Every 5 minnutes or less.  One huge leap I had was when I start the app without the welcome stream (found this on one of these forums).  Before doing that, it was completely unusable.

Living with it now, but not happy at all.  I'm spending more time trying to prevent crashes, than learning the software.  Got so many other things disabed on start up, the rest of the family is complaining all the time.

Not a pleasant experience at all, not a happy home.

PLEASE DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS ADOBE!!!!

[gtacyclist]

I can successfully reproduce PRE8 crash on my PC. First here is the list of my OS/Hardware:

1. OS: Windows 7 x64 Ultimate.

2.  Hardware: Intel i7 860; Radeon 5850 Video Card; 8 GB RAM, 3 x Hard Drive (1 OS, 1 Scratch Disk, 1 Documents/Projects).

The crashes occur when I am working on a project that consist of approx 120 still images and I use the Generate Movie Wizard specifically the Extreme Sports Theme. Previewing the unrendered movie causes a crash to desktop. Rendering the movie causes a crash to the desktop. Trying to "share" the move (generate an mp4 file) crashes the app. I basically used the default settings.

I thought I was beyond the crashes on my new PC where I purposely used a Radeon videocard instead of  an Nvidia. I guess not. Will Adobe release a patch for PRE8? I hope they do.

[the_wine_snob]

120 still images

What are the pixel dimensions of these still images? They should be resized in PS/PSE to be only slightly larger, than the Frame Size of your Project, say 1000 x 750 pixels for an SD Project. Otherwise, large stills will bring PrE and the computer to their knees.

Good luck,

Hunt

[gtacyclist]

Hello Hunt, I created a batch script in Photoshop to resize the 100 or so images to 640 x 480 which is the frame size of the SD project which I was working on... before I imported them to the project. Note that I was able to avoid the crashing by dialing the effects to the left most option (lowest) and choosing a different template... not the extreme sports template. However this thread was asking on a reproducible way of crashing PRE8 when not using an Nvidia graphics card so I thought I would give Adobe a concrete example of how to do it. Note that my workstation is newly assembled with not much stuff installed except for PRE8. No CODEC Packs have been installed and the only additional software I installed related to video is Quicktime. I am using ATI Video Drivers dated December 2009.

[the_wine_snob]

Thanks for that info. When one is working to reproduce a crash, info on the Assets can be very important to getting the same results.

For the still images, you are doing that correctly. Now, the Adobe lab will know that the image size is not the issue and that something else is. I am sure that Chad, and his team, are working overtime on this, and you have provided them with useful material on the crashes.

Thank you, and good luck to all,

Hunt

[Guest]

Using ATI Radeon in Dell Desktop with Vista OS - Bought Elements 8 & Premier 8 together a month ago.  I did not have an earlier version of Premier on my desktop, only Elements 7 which I uninstalled after using Elements 8.  I've been an Elements user since V2 so I am a loyal customer.  And just so you know, E8 crashes too but not as frequent as P8.

P8 has CRASHED every time I've opened it to work on a project.

When I finally managed to get all my pics (this movie only consisted of jpeg content - no imported video clips) into the Edit Window and add music, transition, etc.....I try to playback the movie and all I hear is sound and no content.  No matter how many different Media players I tried the movie on...

In the Edit window all frames show up and I can scroll and edit them.  They are on the timeline just as they should be....but I can not figure out the issue.  I've re-set each preference in the event something I checked had an impact, but still no content in PLAY mode....just sound.

Really hope Adobe comes out with a fix otherwise I just wasted a bunch of money since I see no need to spend all the time setting up a movie I can't play.

I'm sure finding solutions with all the hardware types out there is not an easy task but it needs to be done and Adobe needs to claim it.

Thanks - Good Day

[the_wine_snob]

Please see the reply to the other poster (reply # 64), on the size of the still images, and let us know the pixel x pixel dimensions of these.

Good luck,

Hunt

[glenyvo]

My system includes an ATI Radeon HD4350 installed with  AMD Phenom 9650 Quad-Core 2.30Ghz, 4 Gb RAM, 500Gb HDD and Windows 7 64Bit. Premiere Elements 8 frequently stalls/freezes (Task Manager reports Pgm not responding) and hangs when attempting to close down which necessitates killing it via Task manager.

[jasphowe]

FOR MANY DAYS NOW PREMIERE 8 HAS BEEN GIVING ME PROBLEMS, FREEZE, SYS RE-BOOT, ETC.

'TOYOTA' HAS BEEN NOTIFIYING THEIR CUSTOMERS AND ARE NOW FIXING THE PROBLEMS.

WHERE DO WE STAND??????  I'M NEW AT THIS GAME AND I LOVE IT AS A HOBBY, NOT A LIFE.

MY PROJECT IS DOING > GET MEDIA FROM A PC DVD-R > I SELECT THE TWO CHAPTERS I WANT.

THE SOFTWARE ACCEPTS THE SELECTIONS AND IT DISPLAYS "MEDIA PENDING (?)'. FOR EACH OF

MY SELECTIONS  AND iN THE LOWER RIGHT CORNER IT SHOWS "INDEXING VTS_01_8.VOB....0%".

I AM THEN INTO A  HARD ""CHICAGO"" FREEZE??????   AM I DOING SOMETHING WRONG

OR AM I MISSING SOME OF THE "PREMIERE DRIVERS".

[nealeh]

If it is a commercial DVD it will be copy protected. If not can you play those chapters in Windows Media Player and/or Windows Media Centre?

Cheers,
--
Neale
Insanity is hereditary, you get it from your children

[jasphowe]

Thanks

I'M USING A DVD THAT WAS CREATED FROM A VHS FAMILY TAPE.

YES, I HAVE BEEN VIEWING THE DVD ON MY PC AND DVD-PLAYER.

THESE TWO CHAPTERS ARE ON MY ORGANIZER-8 AND I CAN VIEW THEM THERE BY DOUBLE-CLICKING.   SO, GO FIGURE???????

JIM HOWE

[the_wine_snob]

Jim,

If you are getting system crashes, then something far beyond PrE is failing. This ARTICLE will give you tips on finding the "clues" as to what is going on, with those crashes. Also, with system crashes, I think next about heat and then the power-supply. There are utilities to check both. I recommend the free SpeedFan.

As far as Importing VOB's, PrE can do this nicely, with one caveat: PrE will Import 100% DVD-compliant VOB's and will work with the contained MPEG-2's. That "100% DVD-compliant" aspect is VERY important. This ARTICLE will give you some background.

Also, when Indexing, and/or Conforming is going on, do NOT use the computer, or the program. Just be patient. Though my workstation will allow me to do work, when those processes are working, most computers cannot. Often, the program will lock up, and sometimes the system. These processes are necessary. Depending on your system, the Duration of the Clips and the exact specs, this process may take some time. Be patient. Also, during the process, Task Manager might report "Not Responding," but that is due to signals from the program to your OS. "Media Pending" means just that - it is being worked on. There is no way to rush things, besides upgrading the computer to full NLE workstation status.

Good luck, and hope that something helps,

Hunt

[TheGuyNamedCrisG]

Premiere Elements crashing... Intel Core 2 Dou Processor. Windows 7 32 bit. 2.00G of RAM. Intel 965 Express Chipset Family driver.

[brucem1967]

Given the repeated crashes (including system crashes with the trial version), and other product problems, the solution for me was to uninstall and use something that actually works.  Good luck to all.

bruce1967